“Harry and Meghan”, the Netflix documentary that shakes Buckingham Palace

NETFLIX – ON DEMAND – DOCUMENTARY SERIES

Buckingham Palace has been dreading this moment for months. Harry and Meghanthe documentary series on the love story between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, will be broadcast ” shortly “, promised Netflix, Friday December 2 – without confirming the date of Thursday December 8, announced by several newspapers.

The trailer, released Thursday 1^er December by the platform, is already setting the tone: after the sensational interview with Oprah Winfrey, on February 16, 2021, the terrible couple of the British monarchy wants to give again ” [sa] Version of events “. Something to make the palace tremble again, where Charles III now reigns.

It will be, in six episodes, to tell “as she has never been before” the story of the couple, in open conflict with the rest of the royal family since the “Megxit” (their departure for the United States, in 2020). “No one knows what goes on behind the doors”assures Harry, in the trailer. “Given how high the bar is, doesn’t it make more sense to hear the story from our mouths?” »slips for her part Meghan.

Since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex abandoned their role as “royals” in the service of the Crown, the couple have continued to denounce the lack of attention they say they have suffered from the rest of the royal family. He also constantly complains about the alleged harassment of the British media. Harry, who has had a complicated relationship with them since the accidental death of his mother, Princess Diana, on August 31, 1997 in Paris – William’s younger brother was then 13 years old – accuses them of having led a racist campaign against his mixed-race wife, born to a white American father and black mother.

The quarrel is also deep between Harry and his older brother, now Prince of Wales, to whom he was very close until he married, in May 2018, Meghan Markle – an actress then best known for her role in the American series Suits. The two brothers managed to put their differences aside when their grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, died on September 8, but this parenthesis did not last.

New controversy

The documentary comes at a delicate time for the British monarchy. Charles III took over from his mother less than ten weeks ago: he has been preparing for it for fifty years, but succeeding such a popular and respected figure is a challenge.

In addition, at the beginning of December, a new controversy tainted the palace: a lady-in-waiting to the late queen, Lady Susan Hussey (who is godmother to Prince William), had to resign after being accused by the head of an organization of charity invited to Buckingham for having behaved racistly towards him. It is this same Lady who would have slipped one day, about the budding love affair between Meghan and Harry, that “all this will end in tears”according to royal biographer Tom Bower.

The incident overshadowed the US tour that the Prince and Princess of Wales (William and Kate Middleton) had painstakingly planned, from November 30 to December 2, and echoed allegations of racism within the royal family made by Meghan Markle in her resounding interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The controversy and media attention are not about to fall. Harry’s biography by himself, Spareto be released on January 10, 2023. A “royal buzz” in prospect for Netflix, which is already producing the hit series The Crown.